Dallas Basketball

Mavs Choke at Free-Throw Line, Fall to Bucks in 4th-Quarter Collapse

The Dallas Mavericks' three-game win streak was snapped against the Milwaukee Bucks due to horrendous free-throw shooting down the stretch.

Dalton Trigg

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Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks came into Friday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks riding a three-game win streak and looking for more.

Despite having a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, the Mavs choked it away down the stretch as Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dorian Finney-Smith missed five consecutive free throws in what ended up being a 106-105 loss. Dallas dropped to 13-12, while Milwaukee improved to 19-6.

Doncic led the way for Dallas by putting up 33 points, six rebounds and 11 assists while shooting 13-28 from the field and just 3-11 from the 3-point line. He also threw down a monstrous dunk in transition that sent the American Airlines Center into a frenzy late in the third quarter. It was just one of many exciting dunks for the Mavs on the night.

This isn't the first time that putrid free-throw shooting has hurt the Mavs this season, and it won't be the last if they can't find a way to fix the issue. As a team, Dallas shot 10-24 from the free-throw line. The Bucks were +9 in that category on the night, as they finished shooting 19-23 from the stripe. Fourteen missed freebies in a one-point loss is a tough pill for the Mavs to swallow.

The Mavs had no answers for Giannis Antetokounmpo on Friday night ... until he fouled out 2:55 remaining in the game. Until that point, Antetokounmpo dominated the fourth quarter and helped the Bucks erase a double-digit deficit. He finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and three assists while shooting 10-20 from the field. The Greek Freak turned the ball over seven times.

Next up, the Mavs will make a quick flight to the Windy City to take on Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls on the second night of a back-to-back. After the 9 p.m. CT start time on Friday, the Mavs will tip-off against the Bulls at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday. As coach Jason Kidd said, it's going to essentially be a "doubleheader."

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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